Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels, when asked if the Phillies believe the Mets are ‘choke artists,’ said the following, during an interview with WFAN in New York today:

“Last year and this year we did believe that. I think three years ago we didn’t, because they smoked everybody and I thought that was the year they would go to the World Series – and unfortunately that didn’t happen. But, you know, that’s kind of what we believe and what we’re gonna always believe until they prove us wrong. Yeah, over the last two years they’ve been choke artists.”

“That’s sad… If we had a team say that about us – oh, no – they were gonna be in trouble… I mean, it would definitely be hard if, in the days us playing, if somebody said that, I mean, we’d have stuck one right in his neck. We’d be fighting. There’s no way any one would be allowed to disrespect us like that, and that is what has happened to the Phillies.”